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Ramia Chaoui does not want to go alone to the demonstration of this International Women’s Day in her city, Barcelona (Spain). But not only because it is more pleasant to attend in good company, but because she knows that she will be exposed to contempt or worse by some non-Muslim women. This happened last year to other Muslims like her who took to the streets to demand equality for women.

This time they have organized themselves in advance to go together and create what Chaoui calls a “safe space”. “Among all the things that affect me as a woman, like the rest, I also want to claim my presence on the streets and my space and my place”, this insurance consultant and Youtuber, better known as Ramia Schannel on social media, explains.

“Feminism is not having one [unique] conception of being a woman but rather granting women the ability to be anything they want and to give them the opportunities to make the choices for themselves”

— Hajar El Jahidi, European Forum of Muslim Women

“Feminism is not having one [unique] conception of being a woman but rather granting women the ability to be anything they want and to give them the opportunities to make the choices for themselves”, says the advocacy coordinator of the European Forum of Muslim Women based in Brussels, Hajar El Jahidi.

This Canadian-Morrocan woman makes clear that the situation described by Ramia Chaoui is not an exception: “There are feminist groups that often forget or exclude minority groups such as women of color or religious minorities.” Jahidi assures that “we are impacted by gender inequality the same way as other women”, in addition to facing discrimination because of their faith.

“The feminist movement in Greece has tried to impose another oppression, telling us what we should do and what not”

— Anna Stamou, Muslim Association of Greece

Anna Stamou is director of an export and import company in Athens. She is also the marketing director of the Muslim Association of Greece. “All women, regardless of their religion or ideology, have been discriminated against the men priority,” she recalls and asks for unity for women.

Stamou does not feel identified with the feminist movement in her country, though, because she says that “they have tried to impose another oppression, telling us what we should do and what not. The feminist movement in my country considers Muslim women oppressed, brainwashed and unable to form their own opinion.” Even so, this 8th of March she will participate in the mobilizations and the strike for the International Women’s Day, to stand up for women’s equality rights.

>>> You may also read: Muslim and feminist? These women show it is possible<<<

Neither submissive nor stupid

It is the demand for equality that Muslim women ask not only towards men, but towards some non-Muslim women who insult them or believe that they can not be feminists. They repeat for the umpteenth time that the veil or hijab is a personal and religious option. They do also condemn those policies in countries where women are forced to wear it.

The recently appointed High Representative of the UN Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), Miguel Ángel Moratinos, even highlighted this week on Twitter that in his fight for equality for women he will also include “the perception of Muslim women.”

“I do not accept that other women educate me, because I believe that I have enough tools, knowledge and critical thinking for me to rethink myself the questions of how I choose to lead my life and my spirituality,” explains Chaoui, from Barcelona.

“I do not accept that other women educate me, because I believe that I have enough tools, knowledge and critical thinking for me to rethink myself the questions of how I choose to lead my life and my spirituality”

— Ramia Chaoui, assurance consultant

The chairperson of the Citizen Platform Against Islamophobia and CEO of the Halal Institute in Spain, Isabel Romero, says that “of course” she takes part in the feminist strike and will be demonstrating. She asks “to leave us alone with what we wear or what we do not wear. If there are Muslim women who decide to cover themselves with the hijab, because they think that is part of their religious commitment, they are not hurting anyone.” By the way, she does not wear a headscarf.

Not dressing with a veil, the discrimination suffered by Romero is minor, she admits. But the tables turn when others learn about their faith: “I have been a professional for many years and at the moment in which I identify myself as a Muslim woman, it seems that I can only comment from that axis (and) it seems that I cannot give an opinion on economy, society or anything, just because I am Muslim.”

“I have been a professional for many years and at the moment I identify myself as a Muslim woman, it seems that I cannot give an opinion on economy, society or anything”

— Isabel Romero, Citizen Platform Against Islamophobia

Faced with the image of a submissive woman, Romero emphasizes that different rights of women such as divorce or inheritance have already been established in the Quran. The Islamologist and professor of the University of Barcelona, ​​Dolors Bramon, who is not a Muslim, also considers that the sacred book of Islam was revolutionary for women’s rights. She explains it in her book Ser mujer y musulmana (Being a Woman and Muslim)  (Ed. Bellaterra) and explained it HERE on Salam Plan.

Aurora Ali is secretary general of the Muslim Association for Human Rights, based in Spain. “Muslim women are not clothes”, she answers to those who believe that headscarf and feminism are not compatible. “Wearing the hijab right now is an act of bravery, a feminist claim, because ‘it is my faith and I am going to wear it and I decide on my body’, ” she claims. Like Romero, she recognizes that on the street she has the “privilege” of not being an object of hatred because she is Muslim, since she has chosen not to wear hijab.

“As soon as they see that you are a Muslim woman the hate speech is directly the typical one of: ‘your country’, ‘in Saudi Arabia’, ‘in Iran’ … Then the attacks follow and then the terrorist insult, after [calling you] ‘submissive'”

— Aurora Ali, Muslim Association for Human Rights

She says that she has suffered the so-called “gender Islamophobia” on social media. “As soon as they see that you are a woman, you are a Muslim, then the hate speech is directly the typical one of: ‘your country’, ‘in Saudi Arabia’, ‘in Iran’ … Tatata, tatata”, she lists with glut. And she adds: “They start with this, then the attacks follow and then the terrorist insult usually comes, after [calling you] ‘submissive’. And this happens to virtually every woman who is visibly Muslim in their social networks. ”

She confesses that it is precisely that comparison of Muslims to terrorists the insult that has hurt her most, but not when getting it on Twitter or Facebook, but from the Administration in training courses against violent radicalization and terrorism. She cannot go into detail on this, due to a confidentiality clause she signed.

Double glass ceiling

Equality, equality, equality. It is the concept cited by all these women when asked about their claim this International Women’s Day. They also fight for the empowerment of women, the end of the so-called “patriarchy“, against glass ceilings to reach high positions or the discrimination in the labor market, in society … struggles equal to those of other feminists which for Muslim women sometimes become double as difficult, though.

The most common discrimination that visibly Muslim women -meaning the ones who wear a headscarf- face twofold is found in the labor market, according to several interviewees of this article and data which confirm that.

“The real fight for social justice exists when we fight for another human’s rights even if we don’t agree with or understand them”

— Hajar El Jahidi, European Forum of Muslim Women

Women wearing a headscart in the photo of their CV only received an invitation to a job interview in 3% of cases in Germany, according to a study on “Forgotten women” carried out in 2016 in eight European countries by the European Network Against Racism (ENAR). In Belgium, 44% of employers admitted that wearing a hijab could negatively influence the candidate’s selection.

Faced with incomprehension or rejection of Islamic feminism, the spokesperson of the European Forum of Muslim Women Hajar El Jahidi asks not to be marginalized: “The real fight for social justice exists when we fight for another human’s rights even if we don’t agree with or understand them.”

“It’s time for women especially to come together a lot more, to stand together in solidarity against all of these issues and not just speak but to act together and stand up for each other,” executive director of the Islamic Society of Britain, Julie Siddiqi, has asked on a video released by the British NGO Tell Mama. European Muslim women also want equality… and inclusion in the feminism movement.

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La entrada Muslim European women claim their place in feminism se publicó primero en Salam Plan.

Elisa prefers not to get her last name published in this story. Seven years ago she converted to Islam and considers that being a Muslim of Spanish parents is “an extra challenge, because it is not usual”. “The stereotype pulls a lot, both on the Muslim side and on the non-Muslim side,” says the 39-year-old teacher.

Festive decoration fills the streets of Muslim-majority countries these days, because Ramadan is – above all – a celebration, one in memory of when they believe that the Quran was revealed to Muhammad. In fact, at the end of this lunar month next week, gifts are given at the Eid al-Fitr celebration.

In Europe it is difficult to find a place where public spaces show any sign of this special month for 5% of its population. One of those corners is in Ceuta (Spain). Special street lighting is installed in their streets to wish happy Ramadan to the Muslim population.

The lawyer and town councillor from Ceuta, Fatima Hamed ​​Hossain (40), says the atmosphere in her city is what she likes best at this time of the year. “Fortunately, the fact that almost half of the Spanish people here keep the fasting in the month of Ramadan encourages interaction, coexistence and mutual knowledge”.

“The community spirit is what I like the most about Ramadan. It’s like a month-long festival”

— Tez Ilyas, stand-up comedian

The “community spirit” is also what the British stand-up comedian Tez Ilyas (35) likes most about Ramadan. “It’s like a month-long festival,” he smiles. Although Ramadan is usually known to non- Muslims as the fasting month, for the Muslims Salam Plan has spoken to that aspect is almost the least important.

Muslim communities organize activities such as the soccer championships or long walks in the Spanish town of Melilla. They often also meet in group dinners for the celebration of Iftar, when they break fasting at sunset. Sometimes these meetings are even interreligious to encourage dialogue, like the ones that Arco Forum and Casa Turca (‘Turkish Home’) have been organizing in Madrid for the past six years. Or like “The Big Iftar” that took place this week for the first time in the British Parliament.

That is so, because Ramadan is also to share “moments of exchange and fraternity,” Iaad Ben Diah (26) explains. He is from Toulouse (France), although he has been living in Paris for three years now. He is studying a PhD in mathes and chairs the association of Muslim Students of France (EMF). He assures that neither in his city nor in the French capital has he ever had any problem to celebrate Ramadan, despite the growing Islamophobia and the many supporters Marine Le Pen reaps in the country.

“There is the France of media and the France on the ground. I live very well as a French citizen of Muslim creed (…). France is a country of freedom and tolerance where everyone can live their faith and religious festivities with all serenity,” he argues. “Mrs. Le Pen has no impact on my daily personal life really.”

Asif Arif (30), a Parisian lawyer and regular contributor to various French media, agrees: “Not everyone in the outside world understands the spirit of Ramadan. The most difficult part is also the media controversy surrounding Islam. But we live in France, a free country, where people respect each other and understand that we must live together.”

A flexible at work schedule is appreciated, nothing more is needed

Tez is a comedian who usually jokes about his own circumstances as a British Muslim and the prejudices against those who profess Islam. “For those of you who don’t know that much about us, you might recognize us from such hate TV shows as the news,” he said in one of his shows on BBC.

But he does not mention any bad experience when answering Salam Plan‘s questions about Ramadan in the United Kingdom, at work neither. “In my experience, employers are usually very accommodating,” he says. In his opinion, it would basically be to allow a flexible schedule during this month.

“Starting later and having a shorter lunch break to make-up for the last time and maybe being a little conscientious about food and water near desks,” he suggests.

Ceuta lawyer, Fatima, has trouble these days paying attention to the alarm clock and that’s why she takes advantage of lunch time to take a “little nap”. She also “hardly” perceives difficulties in her working environment for Muslims to celebrate their month of shared spirituality. Fatima is self-employed and can organize herself, but she has not detected problems for employed persons either.

“What people usually do in several companies is changing shifts, holiday periods etc. to make things easier for other colleagues. The same is done at Christmas”

— Fatima H. Hossain, lawyer and town councillor

“What people usually do in several companies is changing shifts, holiday periods etc. to make things easier for other colleagues. The same is done for example at Christmas, where those who do not celebrate try to cover our peers who do,” she explains.

Elisa agrees that her usual schedule is the main difference during Ramadan. “We get up early, so I try to leave a while free to rest in the afternoon, since there are also many hours of light.” As a teacher, her work does not allow her to vary anything on her time scheme, but she can in another practical aspect: “I have to talk a lot and I cannot refresh my throat, as I usually do, so I have to avoid wearing down”.

In Germany, Naima Niazy (28) cannot help but getting irritated by a co-worker who asks each year again if fasting also includes not being able to drink. “This question and lack of comprehension occur so often, that sometimes I want to print out a T-shirt that reads: ‘Yes, cannot drink either,'” she admits.

At the same time, this postdoctoral researcher in molecular biology admits that what she likes best about Ramadan in Germany is the interest shown by non-Muslims: “They inform themselves and take it into account, simply because they like me (…). Conversations arising from curiosity and without prejudice enrich me and help me to learn new perspectives, regardless of whether in the end I have the same opinion or not.”

Iaad, the representative of the Muslim students of France, assures that “those who fast have a totally normal life during Ramadan. My fast should not be imposed on anything about my coworkers or the university world.”

Asif, the Parisian lawyer, says he always tries to be “more calm” and “temper the nerves” at work, as part of that “attempt to evolve towards more spirituality” during Ramadan.

Do not get angry and other top goals in Ramadan

“I actually enjoy the hunger and the thirst. It reminds me how lucky I am that I live in a part of the world where I can generally eat what I like whenever I want,” Tez says. “It’s a really special time where everyone is pulling in the same direction to be a better person.”

Elisa emphasizes that “fasting involves an entire attitude, which goes beyond stopping eating and drinking.” This includes, for example, “to avoid getting angry or talking badly; it is always that way, but during this period, with more reason”.

That positive attitude is what prevents Naima from carrying out her desire to print out that T-shirt. She believes that this other aspect of Ramadan often does not get the necessary importance: neither to get angry, nor to bother others nor to carry out “meaningless discussions”. “We all say things that are not especially kind or we exchange the latest gossip with our colleagues. It is something that becomes part of the daily life and does not kill anyone, so it is good to be aware of it and work on it,” she says.

Interreligious Iftar organized by Arco Forum and ‘Turkish Home’ in Madrid. © Salam Plan

Another maxim in Ramadan is to help the needy. The British comedian says that “it’s also a month where we really think about charity, Muslims dig really deep in our pockets in this month to help those less fortunate than us around the world.” Naima points out that charity can also consist in helping acquaintances or neighbours or “simply smile to another person”.

Asif believes that the altruistic aspect is the least known of Ramadan among non-Muslims. He also explains that it is not only about sharing material aspects with others, but also about “debating and getting better together”. For him, this month has an important “dimension of freedom, choice and altruism”.

It is not torture, but this is what costs the most

“Ramadan is not an insurmountable test that is summarized in refraining from eating and drinking,” Iaad emphasizes. It serves to “reconnect with the essential (…), the piety” towards God. That’s why he goes to the mosque every night and the day usually ends around 1 in the morning, he says with a smile.

The few hours of sleep are an aspect that is repeated among Muslims who participate in this story, as much or more than the lack of food and drink during the day. And when Ramadan falls in summer, the short European nights sometimes demand fasting during 19 hours, highlights Tez, the British comedian.

“The night time prays (Tarawee) at the mosque” are the hardest for him. ” Over the month the Imam prays the entire Qur’an in congregation. It’s tiring and takes about an hour every night,” he explains. The next day, Muslim believers will have to get up before the first sun rays appear to eat and do the first of the five prayers of the day. Some people go back to bed, others feel too sated to sleep.

>>> You may also want to read: Muslim and feminist? These women show it’s possible<<<

Loneliness during dinner is what is most difficult for Naima these days, as it is normally a time to celebrate and to share with a group, either with the family or other people. She does not live with anyone and, although she recognizes that she could meet for Iftar with other believers in a mosque, she does not want to. It is the family the ones she misses.

For Elisa, the Spanish teacher, the most difficult thing to celebrate Ramadan in Europe is that “the usual working and social calendar is ongoing and sometimes it is not easy to combine with.” But at the same time she emphasizes that she “enjoys it with a lot of freedom”. She adds: Ramadan is “a practice that produces immense joy; It is not torture.”

For all these European citizens Ramadan is an opportunity to devote more time to their faith and their relationship with God, as well as to work to become a better person and spend more time in community. The essence does not seem so different from the meaning of Christian festivities such as Easter and Christmas. By the way, Muslims also believe in Jesus as an “envoy” of God.

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La entrada This is how Ramadan goes for Muslims from Europe: much more than fasting se publicó primero en Salam Plan.

When Amparo Sánchez Rosell had to give up wearing the hijab at work in order to avoid unemployment, she began to plan a solution to be able to exercise her option without having to renounce being herself. “I had to choose: either take off my hijab or work,” she tells Salam Plan. Today it is no longer necessary: ​​she is an entrepreneur and has her own restaurant in Valencia (Spain).

She is also the president of the Citizen Platform against Islamophobia in Spain (Plataforma Ciudadana Contra la Islamofobia) and this 8^th of March she asks for the same rights as other women, such as the end of the wage gap. But she points out that as a Muslim she is forced to make extra claims related to the so-called “gender Islamophobia”: “If women in general suffer the inequality of opportunities with respect to men, Muslim women more, and if they wear hijab, even more.”

The president of the Alliance for Action of Muslim Women in Germany (Aktionsbündnis Muslimischer Frauen), Gabriele Boos-Niazy, regrets that for them today -the International Women’s Day- is “a day like any other”, in which they are devoted to work against discrimination of Muslim women, “especially those who wear a veil and have the same desire as most women: to be successful at work and to be judged according to their abilities and not because of their appearance.”

Faeeza Vaid is executive director of the Muslim Women’s Network UK. She already went onto the streets last Sunday in London, when the great British feminist demonstration was organized. She was one of the women who made a speech from the stage and explained that she “marching because so many experience discrimination and sexual violence because of their gender, their race, their religion, their age and their sexuality.”

The equality of women in Islam

For Dolors Bramon, a non-Muslim Islamologist, it is also clear that professing Islam is not at all at odds with claiming equality between women and men. “Obviously” feminism and Islam are compatible, she says. Moreover, “the first regulations favorable to women were born in the basic book of Islam,” says the author of Ser mujer y musulmana (Being a Woman and a Muslim), Ediciones Bellaterra. She admits that “that is the theory” and the practice depends on the interpretation of each one: “Then every Muslim, especially male Muslims, will be responsible for not wanting to see what is feminist in the Quran.”

Bramon believes that Islam establishes “absolute equality from the religious point of view: women have the right to life -before they did not have it-, women can inherit -before they were inherited-, women have the right to a dowry and without it there is no marriage, the custom of polygamy (before Islam) practically gets cancelled, because the Quran speaks of polygamy but then says that it is impossible to meet the requirements… ”

“The first regulations favorable to women were born in the basic book of Islam. Then every Muslim, especially male Muslims, will be responsible for not wanting to see what is feminist in the Quran.”

Fátima Tahiri is writing her doctoral thesis at the Autónoma university of Madrid (UAM) on “the development of religiosity and religious beliefs of young Muslims in Spain: the case of young people of Moroccan origin.” She is also Muslim and feminist and has no doubt that believing that the Muslim woman is subjected is “something very far from reality”. She explains that historically “Islam appears as a salvation to women who in pre-Islamic Arabia were considered objects and with Islam they became independent political subjects with the right to free marriage, property, inheritance, divorce and participation policy, among many others.”

One of Sánchez Rosell’s favourite quotes on equality between women and men is one that says that “the believers, both men and women, are allies of one another” (Quran 9:71). She also reminds that “there were women who held power, both during the life of the prophet Muhammad and with the first caliphs. What happens is that later the patriarchy became stronger than those teachings and ended up absorbing all of that in some countries.”

Patriarchy in Islamic conservatism

María Dolores Algora, a professor of Contemporary History at the CEU-San Pablo University in Madrid and specialist in the Arab and Islamic world, explains that in countries where the sharia (or Islamic law) rules, it is interpreted by men from a conservative perspective. “The Arab society is a society enormously subject to the model of patriarchy, a confessional system with a radical use of sharia, which treats women like underaged people,” she regrets. Before the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ broke out, she was convinced that the revolution in that region would originate from the women.

Sonia Moreno, correspondent for several media in Rabat (Morocco) for eight years, explains that for this 8^th of March she has “no press release on the table”, because there are no Muslim feminist associations as such in the country. However, there are some Moroccan feminists who carry out actions such as painting fountains with red to protest against gender violence, despite the punitive laws of the Alawite kingdom. There are also Iranian women who demonstrate against the oppression of the Ayatollah regime by taking off the hijab, because they are forced to wear it restricting their freedom of choice…

In Europe some Muslim women also claim to be victims of that macho reading of the Islamic faith. And in some cases they suffer it at unsuspected levels. “Forced marriage, honour-based violence and female genital mutilation happens to women in the UK. We know this because we get calls on the Muslim Women’s Network helpline,” Vaid explained in her recent speech.

An ongoing issue in Western countries is the hijab. The usual complaints of Muslim women come from those who have been discriminated against for wearing it, but it also happens the other way round. “I have felt more discriminated against by Muslim men (than by non-Muslims),” admits the Madrid lawyer, expert in hate crimes, Nessrin E. Bensaid, although she emphasizes that this just happens from time to time. “I am a Muslim woman, but I do not wear hijab. Religion seems to me a matter of the private sphere and it is shocking to people that I’m a practicing Muslim but do not wear a hijab. That has led me to have anecdotal conflicts with Muslim men.”

She recognizes that the most conservative Muslims “get scared” when they meet her with what she calls “the full pack”: woman, Muslim, feminist and lawyer. “Their world falls apart: they are even more scared,” she says sarcastically. However, she quickly underlines that “we must differentiate those who believe themselves to be culturally Muslim, those are the ones from whom I’ve experienced rejection. With the real Muslim men and the true Muslim women I have always had an extraordinary relationship.”

“The men who oppress do that because of a cultural context issue. In the Quran, women are asked to be modest the same way men are,” Bensaid assures. Tahiri agrees: “I do not feel relegated by Islam. I feel relegated by a patriarchal and misogynistic interpretation, that has been made sometimes of the sacred texts by some wise men, and by some political regimes.”

Does Islam encourage beating women?

Bensaid laughs when she gets asked about a controversial verse in the Quran in which -depending on which translation is read- God would have said that the men have “authority” over the women and would have even encouraged to mistreat her physically. She considers that it is a misinterpretation.

“Men have authority over/shall take care of/ give advice to (qawwamuna ala) women with the bounties which God has bestowed more abundantly on the former than on the latter, and with what they may spend out of their possessions. And the righteous women are the truly devout ones, who guard the intimacy which God has [ordained to be] guarded. And as for those women whose ill-will you have reason to fear, admonish them [first]; then leave them alone in bed; then beat them/put them up for sth (daraba)!”, Quran 4:34.

First, it should be noted that Muslims always prefer the Arabic version of the Qur’an, since it is the original version and they understand that they are words that come directly from God which do not always find an appropriate translation. This is how Sánchez Rosell and Bensaid feel about this paragraph. In fact, this quote of the Quran has several versions in English, as shown and even more. The lawyer explains that “daraba” has different meanings in Arabic and between them, in addition to hitting, is also having sex, for example.

As for Bramon’s point of view, she broadly explains in her book that what some translate as “authority”, others would understand as “responsibility”, “accompany” or “give advice”. As for the translation of “beating”, however, the Islamologist considers that there is no way round, since it is the most widespread meaning for the Arabic word “daraba”. Even so, she points out that there are many hadiths (in the Sunna, the other sacred text of Islam, which tells the life of the prophet Muhammad) that “criticize the mistreatment of women” and argue that the prophet of Islam said that the best Muslim is the one who treats the women well.

“The Quran was written in medieval Arabic. This, added to all the patriarchal contamination, means that it is being interpreted under very wrong perspectives”, argues Sánchez Rosell. “One of the demands we have -Muslim men and women- is that we have to review all that. What you cannot do is to be functioning with an explanation of the Quran that goes back more than thousand years ago. ”

Feminism can also wear a hijab

“I’m here because my religion motivates me to fight (…) for equality for justice and for peace,” Vaiz told the London protesters. She called “to build a movement that is inclusive of black feminists, of working-class feminists and of faith-inspired feminists. I’m simply saying either we fight for all, or we all fall”.

A claim with which all Muslim women consulted agree. Tahiri believes that Muslim women also suffer from sexism by other women, “as was the case with the prohibition of hijab in France, which was supported by French feminists.” The researcher believes that this way, some women consider other women “culturally inferior”.

“Western feminism looks with its purple feminist glasses to Muslim feminists and feminists from other countries as if they were trying to save them. But you do not have to save them from anything”

Both Tahiri – who wears the Islamic veil – and Bensaid – who does not wear it – think that considering the hijab as an oppression is contradictory in a society where “mini shorts are worn where the pockets of the pants are longer than the pants themselves”. Bensaid recalls that FEMEN activists “can claim freedom with their bodies and we cannot claim them wearing hijab, for example.”

The president of the Alliance for Action of Muslim Women in Germany, Boos-Niazy, says that “in the association’s office it has been shown that non-Muslim men have fewer problems with hijab than non-Muslim women of a determined age and background, who quickly see the achievements of their long feminist struggle threatened as soon as they have to recognize the rights of a veiled woman”. She reproaches the attitude of some non-Muslim women for being “based on the vision of the human being as ‘I know better what is convenient for you than yourself'”.

The expert lawyer in hate crimes, Bensaid, sums up this appeal to other feminists: “Europe and western feminism look with their purple feminist glasses to Muslim feminists and feminists from other countries as if they were trying to save them. But you do not have to save them from anything.”

La entrada Muslim and feminist? <br>These women show it is possible se publicó primero en Salam Plan.

‘Jihad’ in Arabic means “greatest effort” or “striving”. Applied to Islamic theology, it is about “how a person strives to achieve ethical manners in the different areas of life that are daily put into practice: to work and to earn money for the family in an ethical way, the effort in someone’s studies … (always focused) to serve humanity, to improve the world,” describes the Muslim sociologist and theologian, Abdelaziz Hammaoui, to SalamPlan.com citing ideals that coincide with Christianity and other religions.

Hammaoui was president of the Islamic Cultural Center of Valencia (Spain) and National Youth Prize 2013 in that country. He stresses that before giving accomplishing those kind of efforts for others, what the Prophet of Muslims Mohammed asked was the struggle against one’s own ego, against selfishness. That is what Islam considers the “greater jihad”, striving to improve oneself. In addition, there are scientific, social, cultural, economic jihads … in every field, as long as it intends to serve the good of society and God.

“One of these areas [of jihad], neither the largest nor the most important, is the right of a community to fight to defend its territory from an external attack,” says Hammaoui. Only in such cases, Islam defends a military jihad.

The basic conditions for going to war according to Islam

Former foreign terrorist Hanif Qadir joined the ranks of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan years ago, but he left the terrorist organization when he saw with his own eyes the horror they caused and returned to his home in the United Kingdom. Today he works on preventing radicalization at Active Change Foundation in that country. In his book Preventing and Countering Extremism and Terrorist Recruitment- A Guide to Good Practices (Ed. John Catt Publication) Qadir underlines explicit and concrete restrictions to the military jihad according to Islamic teachings: the war must be declared by a legitimate government, not by individual citizens, nor a preacher and of course not trough social media.

In the Quran, there are passages that call directly to kill. The first one can be found in Surah 2:190-195, according to Muhammad Assads’ translation: “Fight in God’s cause against those who wage war against you, but do not commit aggression – for, verily, God does not love aggressors. And slay them wherever you may come upon them, and drive them away from wherever they drove you away (…). But if they desist, then all hostility shall cease (…). Let not your own hands throw you into destruction and persevere in doing good: behold, God loves the doers of good”.

This passage emphasizes on two occasions that it should never be a Muslim who takes the first step to kill, but he encourages to answer to an attack for “the cause of God” (cause that can be defended, according to Islam, also with the other forms of jihad). In the same line, the Quran establishes permission to fight under three basic conditions (Surah 22:39-41):

• “those against whom war is being wrongfully waged “;
• “those who have been driven from their homelands against all right for no other reason than their saying, “Our Sustainer is God!'”;
• a decision taken by the rulers chosen by the people: “those who, [even] if we firmly establish them on earth, remain constant in prayer, and give in charity, and enjoin the doing of what is right and forbid the doing of what is wrong.”

It is no coincidence that the self-proclaimed calipha Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi of the self-designated Islamic State (Daesh or ISIS) chose to found his terrorist organization as if it were a country. But neither Baghdadi was elected nor the Daesh is recognized as a State by any counterpart in the world. Moreover, ISIS and the Syrian branch of Al Qaeda are the only two groups on which every part in the Syrian peace talks agrees they are terrorists and, therefore, not included in those negotiations.

The list of rules limiting military jihad coincides with everything that terrorists don’t comply with when they claim to kill in the name of Islam: the war must be declared by a ruler chosen by the people, attack only in self-defense, never attack unarmed people, never at night, do not mutilate…

The president of the Islamic Supreme Council of America, Muhammad Hisham Kabbani, and the Cape Town Mufti Seraj Hendricks, defend on the Council’s website that military jihad is considered the last option to protect religion: jihad “can be performed using anything from legal, diplomatic and economic to political means. If there is no peaceful alternative, Islam also allows the use of force, but there are strict rules of engagement.” The rules of military jihad (considered the ‘minor jihad’) are established not only in the Quran, but the prophet of Islam, Mohammed, was very specific in his time, as Hammaoui recalls. And the list of conditions for the prophet coincides with everything terrorists don’t comply with whilst they claim to kill in the name of Islam:

• not to attack the unarmed,
• not kill or injure civilians, women and children,
• never at night,
• do not destroy crops or kill animals,
• do not mutilate,
• do not attack places of worship,
• do not perform jihad just to show-off …

Does Islam encourage death by killing?

“The terrorists obligate what they call jihad in any situation and have thus hijacked the term. They fight without a legitimate ruler, they kill those whom it is not permitted to kill, Muslims and non-Muslims alike; they plant bombs in civilian areas; they kill themselves in suicide bombings, which is forbidden,” Qadir writes in his book. Suicide is “one of the greatest sins, it would only be beneath murder: these people commit the two most serious sins in Islam together,” Hammaoui adds.

“The excuse the terrorists find is a historical, not a theological one. They are based on some historical event of a Muslim fighter like when one of them committed suicide to open the door of a wall to infiltrate the ranks of the enemy… It is as if you took the opinion of a wise man from the time of the Crusades and applied it to the present [circumstances]. It doesn’t make any sense,” he says.

“The excuse that terrorists find for suicide is a historical, not a theological one. It is as if you took the opinion of a wise man of the time of the Crusades and applied it to the present circumstances”

And what is more important: Islam considers martyrs those who die for their faith in all types of jihad described. “Martyr is not only the one who dies on a battlefield. For example, if a person dies on the way to university with that intention of serving others (and therefore, serve God) in the scientific field, this person is also a martyr,” explains the Muslim theologian.

He recalls a fatwa (legal pronouncement of a Muslim scholar) that was “very controversial” only a few years ago. It was related to the Palestinian cause: “Some wise men said that if the Palestinian people had no other way of fighting, they can afford to immolate themselves as an exception. It raised much controversy and did not obtain a majority consensus”. In this sense, Hammaoui remembers that a fatwa is not obligatory, but only the Quran and the Sunna (the teachings of Mohammed).

Is there a religious war?

The Quran seems to call for a war between religions: “It is not conceivable that a believer should slay another believer, unless it be by mistake. And upon him who has slain a believer by mistake there is the duty of freeing a believing soul [other translations talk about ‘believing slaves’] from bondage and paying an indemnity to the victim’s relations (…). But whoever deliberately slays another believer, his requital shall be hell, therein to abide; and God will condemn him, and will reject him, and will prepare for him awesome suffering” (Surah 4:92-93).

But does Islam allow or encourage to kill non-Muslims then? Hammaoui assures that in compiling all texts about the same subject, it is clear that his religion condemns the act of killing any human being. “The very Prophet speaks of the ‘sacred human soul’, without distinction of his religion”, he emphasizes. The Quran also offers a clarification: “If anyone slays a human being unless it be [in punishment] for murder or for spreading corruption on earth – it shall be as though he had slain all mankind; whereas, if anyone saves a life, it shall be as though he had saved the lives of all mankind” (Surah 5:32).

“If anyone saves a life, it shall be as though he had saved the lives of all mankind” (Surah 5:32)

Kabbani and Hendricks assert that “jihad is not a declaration of war against other religions” and underline that “the Quran specifically refers to Jews and Christians as ‘people of the book’ who should be protected and respected.” They consider that “all three faiths worship the same God” and remind that ” Allah is just the Arabic word for God”.

Hammaoui quotes the Muslim prophet to insist on Islam being against non-Muslims: “Whoever kills a non-Muslim who has not declared himself an enemy fighter will not get even the smell of paradise” and “whoever does any kind of damage to a protected non-Muslim [he who lives in Islamic territory], will have me as an enemy on the day of judgment.”

In any case, terrorists do not distinguish between killing Muslims or people professing another faith. For them, all those who do not agree with their way of living the faith are “infidels”. It may be enough to recall the example of ISIS’ attack on a Muslim (Sufi) temple in Pakistan in February 2017 or the multiple Muslim victims in the Nice bombing in 2016 (one in three of the dead).

The call of the Quran to take up arms is only in self-defense

The Quran promises heaven to those who “believe and do good”, which may include on some exceptional occasion – with the above requirements – to kill for their faith. “Do you think that you could enter paradise unless God takes cognizance of your having striven hard (in His cause), and takes cognizance of your having been patient in adversity?” (Surah 3:142). Other translations say “fought” instead of “striven hard”; Hammaoui argues it means the widest term of all kind of jihad. In Surah 4:75 the cause for the jihad is extended to “fight[ing] (…) in the cause of God and of the utterly helpless men and women and children who are crying”.

It must be taken into account that what is translated as “fight” actually results from a verb that in Arabic implies self-defense. “Combat in Arabic is a term that although it has the same root as the word ‘killing’, it requires a prior attack. There must always be an attack on the other side first,” says Hammaoui.

Even in these cases, the Quran did not necessarily incite the enemy to be killed in the historical context in which it was written; rather, it was enough to take them as prisoners of war and then release them: “When you meet [in war] those who are bent on denying the truth, smite their necks until you overcome them fully, and then tighten their bonds; but thereafter [set them free,] either by an act of grace or against ransom, so that the burden of war may be lifted” (Surah 47:4).

Emigrate to fight in Syria

As for travelling to Syria to join what Daesh calls jihad, Qadir -the Al Qaeda former terrorist now devoted to prevention- points out that there should be two additional conditions: the consent of the parents and the spiritual leader of the person who wants to join the terrorists. Hammaoui disagrees: “There has to be legislation and (in this case) the opinion of the Syrians counts a lot. What if they do not want anyone to go to defend them? Islam respects human agreements and legislation for world peace.”

It may seem that the Quran encourages to migrate and fight, although a simple comparison of English translations shows a more literal interpretation versus one that includes the meaning of hijrah or exodus “in its spiritual connotation as well- namely, a ‘forsaking of the domain of evil’ and turning towards God”, as Muhammad Assad argues in his translation. Sahih International translates Surah 8:74 this way: “Those who have believed and emigrated and fought in the cause of God and those who gave them shelter and aided – it is they who are the believers, truly. For them is forgiveness and noble provision.” Assad translates the same vers this other way: “They who have attained to faith, and who have forsaken the domain of evil and are striving hard in God’s cause, as well as those who shelter and succour [them] – it is they, they who are truly believers! Forgiveness of sins awaits them, and a most excellent sustenance”.

Hammaoui explains: “Daesh is based on false arguments (to call for migration). The texts that speak of emigration in the Quran refer to the prophet after the period of oppression in Mecca (when he had to) migrate to Medina to live his faith in freedom and peace. That’s not applicable to today’s situation; perhaps for the Rohingya, persecuted only for reasons of faith, who migrate from Myanmar to Bangladesh. But that’s no reason to kill.”

“Europe remains a place -in terms of freedom– which is light years ahead of any Arab country and of course Syria, which is a shattered country”

In France the Muslim scholars of that country did not encourage Muslim believers to emigrate when the veil in the institutes was banned, “because faith is much more than that”, says the Muslim theologian as an example. “It’s possible that they (the terrorists) use the excuse of Islamophobia in Europe and say ‘we invite you to a place where you can live the faith in freedom’, but it is a hoax, because despite all Europe is still a place -in terms of freedom- which is light years ahead from any Arab country and of course from Syria, which is a shattered country without freedom.”

How is peace possible?

It has already been said that the Quran only allows to combat if there has been an attack first from another part, but it also calls for peace in such cases. In a passage dedicated to “the traitors” the Quran exclaims: “if they incline to peace, incline thou to it as well” (Surah 8:61). In this sense, the holy book of Islam also says: “if any of those who ascribe divinity to aught beside God seeks thy protection, grant him protection” (Surah 9:6).

“If they incline to peace, incline thou to it as well” (Surah 8:61)

Expert Julio Cortés explains in his translation of the Quran to Spanish that at the time it was written, “the pagan [or polytheist] was invited to embrace Islam. During the time of his instruction he enjoyed protection, which continued even in the case of not becoming a believer, until he was out of the immediate reach of the Muslims. ”

There is no denying that Islam speaks of the possibility of going to war to defend its faith, territory or dignity. But it is equally clear that it is not a priority goal -much less the only way to carry out jihad-, that the limitations to war established by the reference texts of this religion are many and that the terrorists of the self-proclaimed Islamic State and other similar groups fail to comply with those rules.

La entrada The true meaning of ‘jihad’ and how ISIS fails to accomplish it step by step se publicó primero en Salam Plan.